Macs have a reputation for being safer compared to PCs when it comes to viruses and other malware. Much of that had to do with security by obscurity, as hackers would target the much bigger pool of PCs. With the continued growth and popularity of Macs, though, it may be due time for Apple’s system to be under attack.
Ed Bott, a blogger for ZDNet, posted an interview between himself and an unnamed AppleCare worker. The source said that AppleCare call centers are now getting bombarded with calls from customers who have been tricked into installing malware called Mac Defender and Apple Security, among others.
“Before this started happening, we had 7-12 minutes between calls generally. Now we’re lucky to have any time between calls,” said the source. “We started getting a trickle of calls a couple weeks ago. However, this last week over 50% of our calls have been about it. In two days last week I personally took 60 calls that referred to Mac Defender.”
Something that most Mac owners may not know about is that the AppleCare terms of service state that Apple does not help with malware removal.
“Our notice for Mac Defender is that we’re not supposed to help customers remove malware from their computer,” the source explained. “The reason for the rule, they say, is that even though Mac Defender is easy to remove, we can’t set the expectation to customers that we will be able to remove all malware in the future. That’s what antivirus is for.”
Despite the clear rules, the source said that “most” AppleCare workers still offer help in removing malware simply because the people on the other end of the line are desperate for help.
Bott also obtained an Apple internal bulletin saying that Apple employees must refrain from confirm or deny whether or not a user’s Mac has been infected. Apple employees also cannot make specific recommendations on security software, but instead should direct them to the Apple Online Store or the Mac App Store for antivirus.
Apple has thrown in Intel’s Sandy Bridge processors and Thunderbolt into their MacBook Pro lineup and iMac lineup, so what’s left is the MacBook and MacBook Air. According to DigiTimes, Apple is gearing up now and may receive shipment of the refreshed paper laptops in late May ahead of a June or July launch.
The MacBook Air right now is using 10W and 17W Core 2 Duos, so hopefully Apple will be able to squeeze in the new 17W mobile processors from Intel, which makes them head-to-head with Samsung’s new 9-Series laptops. This is so interesting!
Additionally, DigiTimes says Quanta will continue to assemble Apple’s ultra-portable laptops, with Simplo Technology and Dynapack supplying the battery packs. Fancy a superslim MacBook Air powered by Intel Core i7?
Bizarre news this is, but not totally impossible. News has surfaced on Friday that Apple officials have inked a deal to go for ARM processors instead of Intel processors in their upcoming MacBooks and MacBook Pros, which may even further expand to their Mac desktops in the future. This however, will only happen around 2013, which we predict will be a quad-core Cortex-A15 SOC with a decently powerful graphics chip.
According to sources, Apple is waiting for ARM architecture to move beyond the 32-bit architecture, possibly holding off for the company’s upcoming Cortex-A15 processor design which is expected to hit the market in late 2012 or later. Nvidia’s own ARM-based Project Denver processor, which integrates the CPU and GPU onto one die, is expected to launch in the same timeframe and will also use a 64-bit instruction set.
There’s speculation that Apple’s plan and Nvidia’s release is not a coincidence. Is both companies collaborating again, after Apple going for AMD’s graphics this round? This would greatly enhance Apple’s philosophy of compact and slim designs, as ARM processors are cool and compact and does not need additional cooling designs.
For Apple, moving to ARM chips would mean it would have consistent processor architecture across all of its products. Currently the company is using Intel chips in its desktops and laptops, but ARM-based solutions in the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad tablets. The move could also signify a possible attempt to follow Microsoft’s footsteps and develop one operating system that can be used across different form factors– to offer the same OS on the iPad, iPhone, MacBook and Mac desktop.
Then again, so far ARM chips have yet to prove themselves in the PC market, remaining the dominant solution only in the mobile sector. Yet research firm IDC recently stated that it expects ARM to own 13-percent of the PC processor market by 2015. That market shift is expected to be steered by Microsoft’s modular Windows 8 which could be released as early as next year.
Yesterday Apple launched their new iMac with new Core i5 processors and some thunder actions, and today the new Mac is getting ripped apart already, all thanks to iFixit, as usual.
Things started with a heavy duty sucker to lift off that LG-manufactured IPS display, and then the Sony Optiarc optical drive, followed by the discovery of an Intel controller for the solitary Thunderbolt port on board (there are two on the larger model). Other notables include an AMD Radeon HD 6750M graphics chip and a 2.5GHz Intel Core i5 CPU.
If you’re interested in how the organs of the new iMac 2011 looks like, then just head over to the source link below.
Now that’s quick. We heard about Apple preparing to refresh their iMacs since the Mac Pro and MacBook Pro got their refresh not too long ago. Last night the Apple Online Store was down for a while, and shortly after it came back alive, there’s the new iMac with the Sandy Bridge treatment that everyone anticipated. But this time it ain’t that simple, as Apple has also implemented the new Thunderbolt I/O that was debuted on the MacBook Pro.
Almost all of Apple’s products these days will definitely have an ‘I’ prefix, except for the MacBook and the Mac Pro, and also the Apple TV. You’ve got the iMac, iPhone, iPod, iPad, iTunes, iOS, iAds. Well, Apple seems to be interested to continue the trend.
We’ve come to know that Apple is indeed preparing an online storage, music streaming through their iTunes and stuff, and also some additional cloud service. And it appears that Apple will most definitely call it iCloud, since it’s running through a cloud service. Now that’s a funky name that I like. But if you check around, this name iCloud is already taken quite some time ago.
Words have it that Apple may have purchased the iCloud.com domain for around $4.5 million from CloudMe, the former owners of iCloud. CloudMe is a Swedish cloud storage company. The owners of CloudMe, Xcerion, declined to confirm or deny why it changed its name and domain, but AllThingsD is pretty sure that it was all Apple’s doing.
Now this reminds me of Apple buying the iPhone URL.
This is a super early speculation, as a few separate reports have surfaced that point to Apple preparing to update their iMacs as soon as next week. iMac orders are now being delayed until May 2nd despite the fact that they’re still listed as shipping within 24 hours on Apple’s website, and a separate confirmation from a trusted source of 9 to 5 Mac, who says that Apple will stop shipping iMacs to retailers this week in advance of next week’s supposed release. Mac Rumors also has a report that says Apple will be changing the promotional materials in its retail stores for a launch on Tuesday, May 3rd. So, Sandy Bridge and Thunderbolt port on your new iMac?
It appears that Apple indeed made a huge NAND deal with Samsung, and part of them are meant for Apple’s SSD in their products.
When Apple unveiled their redesigned MacBook Air in October 2010, much was made of the switch to flash storage using a custom-built Mini PCI Express form factor SSD drive. It took a few weeks but these SSDs would ultimately be released as the commercially available Toshiba Blade X-gale SSD module, model TS128C.
However, user reports are showing MacBook Airs equipped with a second, even faster SSD with a SM128C part number — the “SM” hinting at its presumed Samsung manufacturing origins. Samsung’s SSD manages up to 260MBps read and 210MBps write speeds compared to Toshiba’s 210MBps read and 185MBps write performance.
Of course, it’s hardly unusual for Apple to multi-source components. What’s more, it might be a recent decision to source parts from Korea’s Samsung to keep just-in-time supply lines fully stocked following the spate of disasters in Toshiba’s home country of Japan.
Unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be any way of confirming which SSD you’re about to purchase without cracking open the retail box and running the OS X System Profiler. My word? Don’t bet on it.
It appears that some new owners of the brand new 2011 MacBook Pro with Thunderbolt have been facing an annoying issue. It appears that if the laptop is heavily under stress than it’ll randomly crash. Here’s what a user said:
“Received a new 15″ 2.2/6750M MBP last week and have been having some issues with the machine locking up under load.
For example if I boot up a VM using Fusion the temperature will spike up above 90 degrees and the machine will lock up most of the time. The machine appears locked (cannot move the mouse at all and keyboard is unresponsive). I can SSH into the machine still and it still is running however. This is one example but it will freeze under a number of circumstances where the CPU/GPU load is very high (rendering, DJ Software, compiling so far in my travels).”
Thus far speculations are saying that the issue is related to the graphics driver or power management, and it seems the issue is reliably reproducible. Apple is reportedly aware of the issue, but no reliable solution has been provided. They’re probably waiting for Intel’s response.
Apple’s products have almost always given issues to users, especially new products that just got launched by Apple, and the new MacBook Pro with Thunderbolt is no exemption. Yes, the issue this time is caused by the brand new Thunderbolt port itself. The Thunderbolt port is a new I/O port that’s nearly three times faster than the USB 3.0, and can also act as a DisplayPort, and that’s where the problems lies. A small number of new owners of the MacBook Pro that hook up their new machines to their Apple Cinema Displays are seeing random flicker on both 24-inch and 27-inch Cinema Displays when connected via their Mini DisplayPort/Thunderbolt combo port. Some also confirmed that even replacement machines from Apple are exhibiting the same behavior, though this is said to be “not a widespread issue” by Apple. Hopefully Apple is able to release a firmware fix for this bug timely.
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